I know… that is one heck of a title isn’t it?
But it is true.
The failure to understand failure is the worst failure of all… and here’s why.
Failure happens.
It happens to all of us, and it happens to the best of us.
In fact, the reason some people are considered as ‘the best of us’ is because they failed more than most people… and they didn’t give up.
They understood failure and what it meant to fail.
To fail meant that you have just learned how not to do something.
If it helps… think of it like this:
First Attempt In Learning!
That’s a pretty powerful way of looking at it, don’t you agree?
When inventing the light bulb, it is said that Thomas Edison failed around 1,000 times, when asked ‘How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?’ Edison replied with ‘I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps’
I do love to quote Edison, but I have to be honest, I can’t vouch for how accurate the quote is because some say he failed 10,000 whereas others say it was 1,000 and also that his answer was ‘I haven’t failed. I have just found 1(0),000 ways that don’t work.’
Either or… whether it was 10,000 or 1,000 times… Edison did not quit and he illuminated the world along with his bank balance because he refused to see failure as anything more than what it is… learning in progress.
We’ve all heard of Sir Richard Branson, Sir Alan Sugar and Donald Trump’s successes and successful business ventures, but how many of their failures have you heard of?
Very few, and that’s not because there aren’t any, there are… loads of them, it’s just that they move on to the next project and they get forgotten. Because they were not a success, they don’t get catapulted into the limelight and talked about like their successes.
Usain Bolt trained for four years to run nine seconds.
During those four years, he would have had loads of failed attempts, yet on the day when it counted, he outperformed the rest… and that is what he is remembered for…not the other 1,400 odd days he spent practicing.
Failure is nothing more than something to learn from.
When failure strikes understand that it is something to learn and then start again. Put your best foot forward and move on to something new.
To dwell on a failure is what will prevent you from succeeding.
Past failings do not predict the future.
Unfortunately, people seem to think that previous failures is an indicator that they will fail again and nothing could be further from the truth.
Past performance does not equal future performance.
Not if you learn from it that is.
If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, then yes, the likelihood of you failing again is high.
But if you learn from your previous failings and approach things differently, then failure doesn’t have to rear its ugly head again… this time success may follow.
Failure often hurts harder when time and money are involved.
When someone has spent a lot of time and/or money on a project or a business venture and nothing came of it, they can feel a little depleted.
There are only so many years available to us and as every year passes, we get a year older.
When you have only a couple of thousand dollars spare to invest in a business venture or project which didn’t go to plan, you are left a couple of thousand dollars short when the time comes to start again.
When you have lost time and/or money, it can be very discouraging.
But you should never allow those depleted or discouraging feelings to stop you because they are fleeting and they are in the past, and as you know, they are not predictors of your future.
Yes, you can be disappointed and feel a little despondent for a day or two. Expect it, accept it, allow it to happen, and then move on as fast as you can.
Don’t allow yourself to wallow in feelings of self-pity as that can spiral into something a lot nastier.
Shake it off, get back onto your feet, and start again with something new… or slightly different from last time.
Edison didn’t stop trying to make light bulbs when his attempts failed.
He started fresh and changed something slightly so that he wasn’t simply repeating the previous attempt.
Failure is more the rule than the exception. It is natural for people to fail.
It can take many attempts for people to succeed in their endeavors and reach their goals.
Very few people are successful on their first try.
To think otherwise is harmful.
It can cause people to give up when they fail for the first time instead of getting back up onto their feet, dusting themselves down, and carrying on… which is the more logical approach.
So the question now is… what are you going to do should you fail?
Get upset and give up swearing to never try again… or embrace it and know that it’s nothing more than a learning curve and start again as soon as you can?
I really hope for your sake it is the latter.
… Oh and one last thing…
Right now… (as at the time of writing) … we have ONE place left for THIS WEEK’S meeting on the 9th & 10th March nr London Heathrow Airport in the UK… and FIVE places left for NEXT WEEK on the 16th & 17th Match in Orlando Florida USA… To sit down with me in person… And see exactly how you can set up your own $100k+ a year information publishing business…
If you’d like to be coached and mentored with a ‘failure is not an option approach’ to your future success… Then be sure to email me now at nick@nick-james.com and let’s work out a way to make that happen.
